Aug 16 1819

60 cavalrymen charge into a crowd of approximately 70,000 protesters at St. Peter's Field in Manchester, England. The soldiers begin to hack away at the people with their sabers and trample them under hoof. 11 die and 400 are wounded in the Manchester Massacre, also called the Battle of Peterloo.

Aug 16 1938

Blues musician Robert Johnson, who presumably sold his soul to the devil (the story somewhat being told by the movie Crossroads), is poisoned by a jealous husband in Three Forks, Mississippi.

Aug 16 1960

Emmett O. Hashfield abducts Avril Terry, an 11-year-old girl in Booneville, Indiana. He then proceeds to murder, dismember, and eat portions of her, before tossing the leftovers in a river.

Aug 16 1977

Elvis Presley dies in his home at the age of 42, while sitting on the toilet. In the bathroom, he had been reading The Scientific Search for the Face of Jesus. Presumably, Elvis' search was concluded shortly thereafter.

Aug 16 1987

Mercury, Venus, and Mars all get bunched up near the Sun in what some call the Harmonic Convergence. Thousands of nutballs clustered at sacred locations like Mount Shasta, California begin meditating their asses off for some damn reason.

Aug 16 1997

Aida Nur El-Din, a night nurse at Alexandria University's El-Mairy Hospital, confesses to Egyptian authorities that she killed at least 18 ICU patients by injecting them with drugs stolen from the pharmacy. Before she can be taken downtown, El-Din jumps out a three-story window in a failed suicide attempt.